Hacked
by Riselike-BreakofDawn
Summary: Short tag to episode "Canary." Tony is reminded how lucky they all are that McGee is on their side.


**this is just an analytical, fluffy, and inconsequential drabble I came up with to alleviate writer's block, and I thought I might post it for you fine people to enjoy and hopefully review. let me know what you think!**

...

DiNozzo was sure that by becoming a federal agent, he'd missed his calling in the theater.

He'd had a little too much fun with this case, despite the particularly serious nature of the crimes and suspects involved. They'd been up against international cyber-criminals this time, but despite that, he'd had to put on an insanely elaborate show to get the necessary information from their suspect. Getting Ajay Khan, cyber-terrorist-extraordinaire, to give up his boss had involved pretending to ship the man from NCIS headquarters to Guantanamo Bay, staging a fake prison riot, and convincing the hacker that the only way they'd be willing to keep him alive would be if he told the agents how to find the person they were really after. It had been an amazing effort by the Major Case Response Team, one that had been days and weeks in the making, and which would surely help them close the case once and for all.

Back at his desk, Tony ran through the circumstances of the day in his mind, considering everything that had happened and how much had to go _exactly right_ for the team's plan to work out the way it did. He had to admit, he was impressed with his and Ziva's theatrics and the fact that Khan had indeed believed he was in Guantanamo Bay. He was even impressed with McGee, especially in the moments that the junior agent had spoken to Khan directly over the radio phone. Tim's words bounced around in Tony's memory for a minute, making the edges of the older man's mouth quirk up in the beginnings of a grin.

DiNozzo could barely hear what Tim had said to Khan while they were on the phone, but when the hacker had paused to ask "who is this?" with a tone of genuine curiosity, Tony did hear McGee say with brazen confidence, "someone smarter than you, who is about to hang up." He'd been busy trying to keep up their elaborate show, especially since Ziva was putting so much into her performance as she attempted to keep the "terrorists" out of Khan's cell. But now in the quiet, Tony could replay that moment and consider the full implications of what was said in those few exchanged words.

 _"Who is this?"_

Khan had been in the midst of what he'd thought was a jailbreak, about to lose his life to the same terrorists he'd once betrayed as Ziva held the door to his cell shut with what appeared to be all of her strength. And yet McGee's impressive knowledge had made him stop and ask such a question in spite of the crisis going on around him.

 _"Someone smarter than you, who is about to hang up."_

McGee was rarely so brazen. It was usually only when he was dealing with suspects that he put on such an air- and even then, it was only when he felt it necessary. It wasn't an act, really, but Tim wasn't the type to be especially witty or combative with the criminals they encountered in their work. That was DiNozzo's job, anyway. But this case had overlapped heavily with McGee's area of expertise, and in a way, when Tim spoke to Khan, he was dealing with someone more like himself than the average perp.

For some reason, it amused the hell out of DiNozzo (and yes, gave him a small twist of pride, though he wouldn't dare admit such a thing) to know that Ajay Khan, a man high on more than one "Most Wanted" list, had been impressed by their Tim McGee.

Maybe Tony was a bit biased- Khan had been thoroughly frightened and thrown off guard after everything they'd put him through. His confidence was, naturally, shaken. He'd been played. And Khan's livelihood hinged on his own ability to play others. Still, everyone involved knew that Khan was one of the best in his chosen "profession," and that it wasn't just anyone who could have brought him down.

But McGee did.

Sure, it was a team effort. Could anyone else have delivered such a performance as the one Ziva and Tony laid on their audience of one? Of course not. And without their efforts, there was no way they would have ascertained the location of the bomb Khan had been involved in creating and planting, which means that McGee and Gibbs wouldn't have been able to deactivate it. And, who else but Tony and Ziva could have used such brilliant methods of interrogation to get the hacker to reveal the information they needed? But it had been Tim's work chasing Khan through the dark web that had led to his capture, and ultimately, to the information that would surely bring down "MC," perhaps the biggest ever cyberterroristic threat to national security….

These thoughts faded from DiNozzo's mind as Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee all joined him in the bullpen, and the boss told them to go home with his trademark brand of praise, a "good work, get some rest." The senior agent was more than happy to follow such instructions, and as soon as he'd gone home and showered, Tony collapsed into bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

….

Tony did not possess, as some do, the ability to become aware that one is dreaming while in the midst of sleep. Consequently, he wasn't able to actively end his dreams or change the course of events wherein. So, on this particular night as any other, DiNozzo was forced to play along, to follow the plot of the night's dream as though it were reality...A reality that he, ironically, had even less control over than the one he lived in the realm of the conscious.

He found himself in the observation room at NCIS, watching an interrogation. That in and of itself wasn't odd- he dreamed about work and cases all the time, and again, he wasn't able to process and acknowledge the fact that he was dreaming, so at first he didn't feel that anything was out of the ordinary. It wasn't until the senior agent approached the glass, to see who was on the other side, that he knew something was wrong.

There at the table, were Ziva and McGee. The thing was, _he_ was facing Tony and the observation window, and _she_ was on the other side, facing away. DiNozzo couldn't figure out what was wrong about this picture until Gibbs walked into the room and sat down at the table next to Ziva, and then it finally occurred to him, with a shock of disbelief, that Tim was the one being interrogated.

"How much did you get paid for selling the data, McGee?" Gibbs was asking (almost shouting at) the man on the other side of the table. Chills ran up and down Tony's back and through his entire body. He wanted to ask why they had arrested Tim, what he had done, and why no one seemed to remember that he was on their team. But the words didn't come, and all he could do was watch.

Tim did not look smug, or arrogant, or even perturbed by Jethro's accusations. In fact, he was as polite and professional as one could be while an angry ex-Marine was accusing them of such a crime.

"What proof do you have that I did this, Agent Gibbs?"

"It's not just coincidence that the breach of the SecNav's office happened the same day that you received 3 million dollars in your personal bank account," Ziva answered for her boss.

"That could be from literally anything else," Tim scoffed.

"Nor is it coincidence that we were able to trace the breach to a very unique Trojan program that, according to our forensic analyst, seems to match your…I think she called it your personal hacking style."

"First of all," McGee countered, still respectful of Ziva but with a tone that suggested he was somewhat annoyed by the fact that he had to explain this at all. "It is coincidental at best to state that whoever breached your SecNav's office has a somewhat similar setup to one of my hundreds of programs. And none of my original designs come with an actual signature. That is very cliche, and even some of the most careless black hats don't openly take credit for their work. And," he concluded. "I have sold some of my programs and have created custom network security setups _and_ malware for various clients- some of them federal- so just about anyone could be using a program I originally conceived."

"Seems strange that federal agencies would hire you," Gibbs said in a low voice.

Tim tilted his head a little and looked down; almost a shrug, but not quite. "I'm good at what I do."

"Good enough to breach SecNav's security systems?" Ziva asked.

"Easily. But that still does not prove that I did anything."

"Selling government information overseas is treason, McGee!" Jethro said loudly, attempting to scare their suspect.

The clenched jaw subtly indicated that Tim wasn't quite impervious to the senior agent. But McGee did not flinch, his gaze did not waver, and he did not break eye contact as he looked up at the agent leaning across the table and in his face. He still did not seem cocky, but rather stony-faced in the wake of Gibbs' wrath.

"Look, if you two are going to use the ex-military, bad-cop act, you at least need to be scarier than my father."

Ziva continued, perceiving an emotional weak spot that McGee had exposed with this statement.

"What do you think your father's going to say if we call him? The more officers we have interested in this case, the easier it is to get a warrant to search through your apartment." This wasn't necessarily true, but it was a statement that had been used before to scare suspects who were family of higher-ups. It didn't work this time.

"He'll say that he doesn't have a son and then hang up on you," Tim said, matter-of-fact. "Which would have nothing to do with the fact that I'm locked in your interrogation room as a suspect. He's been doing that since I was in college. He found out long ago that he can't scare me anymore, and gave up trying to claim me altogether." He grinned a little at Ziva; it was a bizarrely self deprecating, almost playful expression for one of the most wanted hackers in the world. "That's why I said you had to be scarier than that."

Glancing at Gibbs, who was still leaned over the desk next to Ziva, he added. "And no, that's not why I do what I do. So please don't insult my intelligence or yours by trying to pin my actions on daddy-issues or a displaced sense of rebellion."

It made DiNozzo's stomach twist to see Tim talk to Gibbs like that, especially since he hadn't yet learned whether or not McGee had actually done anything wrong. Nor had he figured out why Ziva and Gibbs didn't recognize their junior agent.

Ziva did recognize that their suspect was not interested in fighting with anyone, and so switched her interrogation tactic to one that was more conversational. Jethro resumed his seat next to her. If they couldn't frighten McGee into confessing or rile him up, perhaps they could get him to talk about himself until he gave something away.

"So what is it? Why do you do these things?" she asked, gesturing at the file in front of her to indicate that "these things" meant his long record of illegal virtual activity- none of which had ever been proven and for which he had served no time.

Tim raised an eyebrow at her but did not speak at first. Finally, "Which of 'these things' are you trying to get me to confess to, Agent David?"

"If I were 'trying' to get you to confess to anything, you would know," Ziva said, a brief spark of ferocity behind her professional mask. "But at the moment I really am just trying to figure out why you do what you do."

Again, McGee didn't answer right away, so Ziva continued, shuffling through the papers on the table.

"We saw your apartment, and your car. And your clothing," she tilted her head slightly towards Tim's custom jacket and watch. "They all appear to be very expensive. Not to mention the sheer amount of computers you had in your office."

"Is there a question in there?" McGee asked gently, but failing to contain the quirk of his lips into the beginnings of a smile. It wasn't an act, this cautious but polite composure he wore as he was interrogated. But neither Tony, nor Gibbs or Ziva, failed to see that this composure was borne of self-assuredness. Tim knew that they could not touch him, and therefore did not bother to be angry or defensive. It sent more chills down DiNozzo's neck. This was perhaps the most calm he'd ever seen his best friend. But it was also, somehow, the most dangerous Tim had ever been.

"I'm just wondering if money was the sole factor in deciding your career path," Ziva responded.

"No, that's just a perk. I really don't care much about the money."

Tony snorted. In that fleeting moment, this was a McGee he recognized. But Tim continued.

"…Although really, you guys should pay your cyber-analysts better. Or at the least, get them better setups to work with. It would be easy to sidestep the NCIS firewalls if you had even intermediate hacking ability, and protecting any system from the agency's own breaching attempts can be done without breaking a sweat. And besides, I bet they're all sitting in a dimly-lit basement, only getting called up to your floors to act as your agency's IT."

Tony frowned. That was exactly how the cyber unit operated. In his defense, DiNozzo had come to respect all of their agents who specialized in working with technology. It was a big change of tune for the senior agent, given how openly he'd teased McGee about his abilities when the younger man first joined the team. But other agents on other teams hadn't come around yet, and often echoed his former sentiments.

"So is this about respect then?" Ziva asked.

"No, not at all" Tim snorted. "But if you had to choose between freelancing and rising to the top of your field, or getting paid half as much to sit in the basement and get written off as a computer geek, which would sound more appealing to you?"

"You call selling classified information to terrorist organizations freelancing?" Gibbs cut in, and in doing so, effectively startling McGee.

"Did I say I sold government secrets to terrorist organizations? _No_." For the first time since they'd arrested him, Tim became openly irked and a little smug. But after a pause, he regained control of himself and spoke again. "Look, I don't mean to be rude…" and, to his credit, he really didn't sound like he meant to be rude. "But you have no proof that I did anything wrong. And I can swear to you that I have never killed anyone in my life, especially not anyone connected to the Navy. And whatever else you're trying to charge me with, I promise you won't find on any of my hardware. Or anywhere else, for that matter."

Tony continued to look on as Tim leaned away from the desk, watching his interrogators with a calm, analytic expression. To the untrained eye, he would seem to be the usual, respectful McGee he always was. But DiNozzo saw that the open kindness was gone, masked by an edge, by a mistrust that was not characteristic of the Tim he knew. Again, it was not arrogance that allowed him to remain so cool and collected, but a sense of security that is afforded only to those who wielded tremendous amounts of power. The politeness was genuine, yes, most likely stemming from his childhood spent in a military household that valued respect and obedience to authority. But underneath lay that awareness that he had the capacity to cause true devastation with a few practiced clicks on his keyboard. The McGee that Tony knew in his waking life almost certainly had that ability, but was far too good a person to even entertain the idea. This version of Tim did not face that same constraint. And because of that, as he sat there, knowing full well he was going to get away from this matter scot-free, McGee looked _predatory_ , something that Tony had never, ever seen in the younger man before.

Director Vance made an appearance then, entering the observation room and speaking to Tony directly. "Anything from McGee?"

"…Not really, sir," the senior agent spoke for the first time. "He's pretty confident that he's innocent."

"Like hell he is," Vance snorted, interpreting DiNozzo's discomfort and confusion as humor. "But his holding time's almost up and his lawyer's already on the way. If we don't get something from him before then, he may as well be."

Tony looked back at his best friend of almost ten years as he sat there, studying Ziva and Gibbs carefully like they were art pieces in a museum, even as they talked at him.

"To be honest I'm surprised he's still talking at all without his attorney present," Vance commented.

"He's not saying much, anyway."

"We need this guy to bring in MC. And this agency could use a big win after what happened with the breach of MTAC and the SecNav's office. Although, bringing down this guy would be a win on its own."

MC. That was a name and case Tony recognized. His mind was still having trouble with the dissonance of Tim's purported involvement in a crime that DiNozzo's brain did acknowledge to be completely real, but he was on auto-pilot. And, to add to that, the idea that his best friend would be capable of any such crime, even if no one in this scenario seemed to know him personally…it was all enough to keep the senior agent feeling uncomfortable and anxious.

"…And it would be nice to have something assuring to say to the family of the undercover agent that was killed because of the breach," Vance was saying. Tony didn't get a chance to respond, because, at that moment, a stocky, balding man burst into the interrogation room.

"That's quite enough, agents. Mr. McGee, you haven't answered any questions, have you?"

"Nothing important," Tim smirked as his lawyer came to sit at the table next to him.

"Would either of you like to tell me what it is that my client is being charged with?"

"Nothing yet," Gibbs spat from behind his grim expression. "Doesn't mean we don't get to hold him."

"That's fine, but I can assure you that if you hold him, he will sit here in silence until your time is up."

"We can hold him for a bit longer if we charge him with terrorist activity," Ziva said cooly.

"Are you telling me that you suspect my client of being a member of Al-Qaeda?" the attorney scoffed.

"Cyber-terroristic activity," Gibbs specified.

"And what evidence do you have of this?"

"That's classified."

"It's nonexistent is what it is. My client has a right to know what it is he's being charged with and what evidence you have against him. And if you wait until you have to charge him to tell us, then I think it'll be pretty clear that you have nothing to charge him with anyway."

"It's all circumstantial," McGee explained to his lawyer.

"I'm sure. Can I make a suggestion? Decide what it is you want to arrest my client for, and then give us a call. Your holding time is up, and you've got nothing on Mr. McGee. So if it's perfectly alright with you, we'll be leaving."

Vance tapped on the glass, and Gibbs and Ziva got up from the table and left interrogation to join Tony and the director in observation.

"His time's up. Charge him or let him go."

"We don't have enough to charge him yet."

"Then figure something out and then arrest him again, Gibbs. If we hold him any longer, the lawyer will go to a judge and to journalists, and the last thing we need is public attention because we can't protect our own information or because the son of an admiral is committing acts of cyber terror against the Navy."

Jethro huffed and opened his mouth, but was interrupted by the buzz of his own phone, which he answered with a "yeah?"

After a moment, he thanked the speaker and turned to Tony and Ziva. "Abby's got something."

DiNozzo, somewhat dazed by all that was going on, followed his coworkers down the hall and into the elevator, which dropped them off in the forensic lab.

"What've ya got, Abs?"

"Hey guys! I'm glad you asked," the goth chirped, coming into view. "I've been going through McGee's computer. I've got to admit, this guy is really good. I've been trying to follow his communications with MC, but they both bounce their traces all over the world. My system's been working on following the lead and eliminating the false IP addresses until we find the right ones."

"Unfortunately Abby, we have had to release McGee, so unless your program is finished running, we will lose him, and probably MC," Ziva said.

"That's why I called you down here! It's almost done," the forensic tech said. "By the way, I hope you guys realize how lucky we are that I found this program. I didn't make it myself. Someone from IT got it for me, and he only knew about it because he used to work IT for the CIA and they used it. _And_ it was made by a contracted programmer, so really, we're lucky that we got it at all.'

Something from that statement made Tony frown. "Any idea who the contractor was?"

"No, but I can find out later." A small beep interrupted their conversation, as the tech turned to study the information gleaned from the confiscated computer. "Huh…that's interesting…"

"What?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, because McGee works for MC, you'd think that MC would be tracking McGee's activity. But it doesn't look like he is."

"How can you tell?"

"Because McGee's got a setup that lets him see who is tracking or looking for him. See?" she pointed to a small blurb of information on the screen that meant absolutely nothing to the agents.  
"But all of these tracked IPs…I've identified all of them already. I don't see anything that would remotely indicate that MC was monitoring McGee's exchanges with other hackers, even in their own network."

"Maybe MC is just so good that he can track McGee without him knowing?" Ziva suggested.

"Seems like he'd want others to know they're being watched," Gibbs said. Abby was inclined to agree.

"Right, but…."

Suddenly, the forensic lab's desktop started beeping in distress. The goth looked over to see what was happening and a small cry came from her lips.

"No. No, no, no, no, no…." Abby said, panicked, as she began typing at breakneck speed, alternating between the confiscated setup and her own computer.

"What is it, Abs?"

"It's trying to hack my system!"

"Didn't you put up some sort of defense on your computer-?" Tony began, but was cut off by the forensic tech's angry retort.

" _I did._ I'm not _stupid_ , Tony. I checked through his system for any potential viruses, _and_ I put up more than enough firewalls to keep out any sort of virus. I set up anti-spyware _and_ anti-malware. I have _micro-virtualized_ software meant _expressly_ to keep out next-gen malware. _And it's blowing right through it_!"

Abby decided that nothing she could do with her keyboard was going to prevent the attack that McGee's computer had wrought, and yanked the cables connecting the two setups. She also pulled all of the cables out from their plugs in her own computer, causing it to go black.

"Well…I feel stupid," Abby said. However, McGee's computer wasn't done. The screen had gone black, and in the lefthand corner, some lettering appeared.

" _Too late. -MC_ "

The three agents bolted from the room and towards the stairwell, knowing that the elevator wouldn't be fast enough to accommodate them. Gibbs had whipped out his phone and was waiting for the security guards at the entrance to the Navy Yard to answer.

"C'mon, c'mon…" the silver-haired agent muttered before he finally got ahold of someone on the line. "Yeah, this is Agent Gibbs. There's a car coming your way with a Timothy McGee inside. You can't let him off of the property, you hear me? We're on our way."

At this point, the team had made it down to Gibbs' car. Tony sat in front and Ziva took the backseat while their boss tore out of the garage and sped in the direction of the security checkpoint. DiNozzo's heart was racing, as was his mind, as he tried to come to grips with what was going on. McGee, the most wanted cyberterrorist in the world? Admittedly not impossible, at least not by the measure of the younger man's hacking abilities. But was he capable of such criminality? The kind that led to breaches of national security, to undercover agents dying, to the advancement of terror organizations all over the world?

In no time (it really was no time, because Tony's brain didn't supply any real commute between the office building and their destination) they'd reached the security post that checked ID's of all those coming into the Navy Yard. There was a sleek black car stopped at the gate, and the security guards were talking to the now-irate lawyer that had removed McGee from the agents' grasp. Tim was leaning up against the car, watching the dispute. When Tony followed his boss out of their car and over to the attorney, he turned his anger from the guards and directed it at the newcomers.

"Really, Agent Gibbs, I can't believe you'd actually attempt to detain my client even after you admitted you have nothing to charge him with-"

"Yeah, well, we have something now," Tony interrupted without thinking, as Ziva grabbed McGee and shoved him up against the car, wrenching his arms behind his back.

On a hunch, DiNozzo spoke to the younger man for the first time since he'd begun dreaming. "Did you happen to be the contractor who made the program we used to find your web traces?"

"Very good, Agent," Tim smirked. Tony was sure he'd never seen a smirk from McGee, and decided he didn't like it when his probie's expression looked the way it did just then.

"Timothy McGee, you're under arrest for treason and cyberterrorist attacks on and against the United States of America," Gibbs began. "Or should we call you MC?"

"Either. Whatever you're comfortable with. Oh, and tell whatever IT guy or analyst that I say thank you, for running programs on my computer with NCIS equipment."

Just then a rumble shook the ground. Everyone turned to look at the NCIS building, which suddenly had a plume of dark smoke rising from the far side.

"That took longer than it was supposed to," McGee said. DiNozzo began turn towards him in confusion, but his attention was once again diverted when another huge explosion sounded from the building. This time, it shattered the front windows on several floors and produced a cloud of fire and smoke, which dissipated to reveal the gaping, burned hole in the side of the building.

DiNozzo jerked around to grab Tim, but was too late. The younger man sent a punch at Ziva, removing himself from her grasp and knocking her back. The pure terror and anger that Tony felt at the idea of McGee punching anyone, much less Ziva, was enough to make him freeze for half a second. Tim took advantage of this hesitation, producing a gun from his car and sending a shot directly at DiNozzo's chest.

…...

DiNozzo didn't jolt out of consciousness like one might do to escape a nightmare. Instead, the cognition of his dream faded out and his awareness of the real world faded in as it did any other morning. Just before opening his eyes he was aware of the fact that he was at home in bed, and disconcertingly, that he had broken out into a cold sweat at some point in the night. But why? It was ridiculous, his dream (he now realized, of course, that it hadn't been real.) McGee….their Tim McGee, an… international criminal?

The details were already slipping out of Tony's brain as he sat up, like water that had been stuck in his ears. He was only able to recall and grab hold of little impressions and details before they faded out of his conscious mind completely. He could see Abby's poor lab equipment laboring under the chaos that McGee's virus had inflicted. He could hear the gunshots as Tim made his impressive escape…

The first coherent thought DiNozzo had was that his dreams were a little too heavily influenced by James Bond movies. The second thought was a repulsed reaction to Tim's actions over the course of the dream, and a flickering recollection of the younger agent's unflappable and untouchable confidence that was nothing like the humble self-awareness the real McGee possessed. A moment of disconcerting enlightenment, one that had eluded him until he was once again awake, now settled upon Tony's shoulders. DiNozzo realized with a dull unease that this was who Tim very well could have been. Who he _should_ have been.

The junior agent was never been very open about his childhood, but Tony knew that Admiral McGee hadn't been the best dad at any time in Tim's life. Growing up with a father that was either absent or openly displeased with his son's gentler nature had resulted in an insecure and very eager-to-please probie. But it could have all too easily gone the other way. In fact, this home life, paired with the episodes of bullying Tony knew his friend had endured, would have logically turned most boys into hardened, stand-offish men. Into adults who were wary of the world around them. Adults who were openly cunning when they needed to be, who cared very little for authority or for what others thought of them, because they'd learned long ago that their elders and peers would not be forthcoming with approval or support.

This persona, coupled with McGee's understated genius and his drive, could have made for a very dangerous mastermind. Even without his inborn penchant for technology or his first-class MIT degree, Tim would make for a formidable adversary, one that would take Team Gibbs a lot of effort and luck to bring down. Hell, he was dangerous enough as a hacker and an agent while working _for_ NCIS. Without such a strong moral code or imposed legal protocol, McGee would be frighteningly limitless. He would be someone like the hacker they'd worked so damn hard to take down the day before. Probably worse. And all of this added up far more logically than the collection of traits that encompassed the junior agent.

Tony thought again to the day before- to Khan's impressed surprise at McGee's expertise, and to Tim's bold show of confidence as the result of him being in his wheelhouse. This stuck with him as he showered and dressed, and during his commute to work. It stuck with him, even, as he sat at his desk in the bullpen, trying not to be blatant about the fact that he kept glancing over at McGee from the corner of his eye. He couldn't help it- the last time he'd seen Tim, it had been from the receiving end of a bullet. So what if it had been a dream? It was still jarring to see, so vividly, his best friend shooting at him, his expression cold and uncaring-

"What, Tony?" McGee finally asked, slightly unnerved, jostling DiNozzo out of his reverie. The senior agent realized that he'd been staring into space, right in Tim's direction.

"Nothing. Sorry, McGee," he said, too tired and distracted to come up with some sort of sassy quip or call his friend a nickname.

"You seem out of it today, Tony," Ziva supplied, and this comment was enough to make him take the bait and retort about how he was exhausted after the stellar performance he'd given the day before, which caused the three younger agents to banter about who had been the best actor.

"I feel like I thoroughly frightened Khan by suggesting we give him up," Ziva said.

"You did, but I had to pretend like I was shot in the leg," DiNozzo replied. "That's no easy feat."

"Oh of course it is…"

"Don't worry, Ziva. You were a wonderful leading lady. I was glad to have you as my co-star," Tony said. "And I think Best Supporting Actor should go to none other than our very own McGoo, Mr. "Someone Smarter than You Who's About to Hang Up."

"Is that what you said to him, McGee?" Ziva asked, thoroughly impressed. "That is unlike you."

"Hey, the man is good and he knows it," the senior agent teased. Tim's ears were slightly tinged with pink at this praise.

"Khan needed to be shaken up a little bit more to make him talk, that's all."

The three shared a comfortable silence before Ziva announced that she was in need of coffee, and left the bullpen to get some, leaving the two men alone.

Tony wasn't sure what possessed him to ask such a question, but just as McGee turned back to his computer, the senior agent asked, "You ever think of going that way?"

"What?"

"Come on, McGee. We both know you're that good. You could be making way more money on way better hours if you'd done what Khan did. Or what MC does."

"It really isn't so difficult to choose between being a terrorist and stopping them, Tony."

"…Right," the older man said, somewhat lamely. Of course Tim wasn't going to struggle between a life of crime and the life he had now.

It seemed like that was going to be the end of the conversation, but after a pause, McGee spoke again. "I did have a chance to, at one point," when Tony looked up in surprise, Tim grinned softly. "After MIT, before I joined NCIS. The opportunity did present itself. And you're right… I am that good," he grinned a little wider. "But it's more fun being on the side of the good guys. Besides. Would you want to be arrested by Gibbs?"

DiNozzo smiled as their boss entered the bullpen. "No, I would not."

END

...

 **I'm sorry y'all. This was so dumb. Hope you liked it, anyway!**


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